No Time For Sentiment
by teofse
Summary: Loki has decided that he doesn't have time for sentiment. The Avengers, contrary creatures that they are, set out to prove him wrong.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** **No Time For Sentiment.**

**Author:** Teofse

**Fandom:** MCU

**Pairing:** Loki/Tony

**Characters:** Loki, Tony Stark

**Rating:** G.

**Word count:** 367

**Disclaimer:** These characters belong to Marvel (both comics and movies). No money is being made out of this work.

**A/N:** Unbetaed. Post Avengers AU, disregards Iron Man 3 and Thor: TDW. Written for the adventdrabbles 2014 **Prompt 1: Cuddling/relaxing by the fire.**

**A/N 2:** The adventdrabbles will post a prompt per day for the next 30 days. It is my intention to answer as many of those as possible, incorporating every new challenge into the next chapter of this story until they are all done. Wish me luck! :D

**Summary:** Loki reminds himself that he has no time for sentiment.

**No Time For Sentiment.**

Loki looked listlessly around the hovel S.H.I.E.L.D had given him as 'living quarters' when his not-father dumped him on them as part of Thor's dumb plan to 'rehabilitate' him.

He should have accepted Banner's invitation to join The Avengers' weekly get-together, but he wasn't really one of them and he was tired of taking their pitying scraps. Yes, he was bored -and lonely too- but that didn't make him any less aware of the fact that nobody in the team could stomach his company for any length of time.

He was an outsider once again, the unwanted 'baggage' Thor had dragged in with him and forced everyone to accept.

"That stupid oaf never learns. His shield-brothers don't want me here. They will never, ever, trust me."

His long fingers flickered green, conjuring a beautifully detailed mirage of two dark-haired men lovingly entwined upon a leather couch; complete with crackling fire, soft background music and two goblets of wine lying, forgotten, on a coffee-table.

"Sentiment." He muttered, staring at the distinctive circle of light that emanated from the chest of the shorter projection with widened eyes, and blaming the sappy 'film' he'd been watching on TV for the unbearable longing that was making his heart ache with a strange and frightening sorrow.

"No, Loki." He snarled in self-defensive denial of his own stupidity and his voice sounded bitter when he forced himself to spell the truth out loud: "Yearning for things you can't have is what brought you here. Stark will never want the despicable bastard who almost leveled his precious New York, so you must as well Let. This. Go."

A sharp snap of white-knuckled fingers vanished the loving vision before him and he stared at the empty space it had occupied with shattered green eyes.

"I can't stay here. I can't keep loving those who'll never want me. I've got to focus on being 'good enough' for the Allfather to lift the magical restrictions that keep me tethered to this backward rock and then—then I'll be gone forever. I'll finally shed the burden of being Odinson, Laufeyson, Thor's brother and Frigga's son. I'll be nobody but me and I—I don't have time for sentiment."


	2. Grace Under Pressure

**Title:** Grace Under Pressure.

**Author:** Teofse

**Fandom**: MCU

**Pairing:** Loki/Tony

**Characters:** Loki, Tony Stark

**Rating:** G.

**Word count:** 469

**Disclaimer:** These characters belong to Marvel (both comics and movies). No money is being made out of this work.

**A/N:** Unbetaed. Post Avengers AU, disregards Iron Man 3 and Thor: TDW. Written for the adventdrabbles 2014. **prompt 2: Grumpy Elf.**

**Summ**ary: Grace... he had plenty of that, thanks to his mother, and he was going to show this Midgardian bastards some class even if it killed him.

**Grace Under Pressure. **

Loki stared at the peculiar item Barton had just handed him, wondering how, exactly, they expected him to react to it. He could sense the team's intense focus upon him, but the atmosphere in the room wasn't as pregnant with malicious mirth as he'd have expected from a group who was so blatantly trying to humiliate him by gifting him what looked like a child's discarded toy.

"What is the meaning of this?" He growled coldly, pinning Barton to the spot with the kind of arctic glare that would have sent seasoned Asgardian warriors scurrying away for cover. Barton didn't have enough sense to do so, though. He shrugged helplessly instead and scratched the back of his neck with enough awkwardness to mollify Loki's murderous rage into mere seething anger.

"It's the Grumpy Elf, Reindeer. A Stark Holiday tradition. My employees play this game every year because it's... therapeutic. I thought it'd be awesome to do the same with the Avengers."

Loki's breath caught when Stark addressed him over Barton's right shoulder and he shifted slightly in place, unwilling to look directly at the man who's heart he craved for fear of betraying the depth of his stupidity.

"I am not an Avenger." He ground out, holding so strongly onto the oddly dressed doll that his knuckles shone an unearthly shade of white against the velvety green of its costume.

"You're part of the team and grumpy to boot, buddy, so I'm gonna agree with Robin Hood here and second his choice."

"Stark..."

"Don't wanna hear it, horns of gold. Now listen carefully, so you'll know how this game works: the person who starts the game, that means Barton, nominates the member of the team he thinks has been the grumpiest today and presents them with this cute representation of themselves. They accept it with as much grace as they can muster, hold onto it for 24 hours and pass it on to whoever they think deserves to hold the grumpy crown next. "

Loki frowned thunderously at the irreverent mortal who had dared to interrupt him. The uncomfortable self-awareness of his unrequited feelings towards the irritating creature momentarily overshadowed by the offended indignation that rose within him as soon as he realized how cleverly they were trying to humiliate him.

Grace... he had plenty of that, thanks to his mother's loving guidance, and he was going to show these Midgardian bastards some of the class she'd so patiently instilled in him even if it killed him:

"I thank you for the honor you've so thoughtfully bestowed upon me, then, agent Barton. I look forward to extending the very same kindness to one of you tomorrow." He gritted out politely before vanishing in a wisp of green smoke that matched the outfit of the doll they'd mocked him with.

**TBC**


	3. The Price Of Gumption

**Title:** **The Price Of Gumption.**

**Author:** Teofse

**Fandom:** MCU

**Pairing:** Loki/Tony

**Characters:** Loki, Tony Stark

**Rating:** G.

**Word count**: 611

**Disclaimer:** These characters belong to Marvel (both comics and movies). No money is being made out of this work.

**A/N**: Unbetaed. Post Avengers AU, disregards Iron Man 3 and Thor: TDW. Written for the adventdrabbles 2014.** prompt 3: Holiday cartoons: The Charley Brown Special.**

**Summary:** Loki couldn't understand what had gotten into the Avengers but resistance was futile.

**The Price Of Gumption.**

Loki couldn't understand what had gotten into the Avengers. They'd been fussing around him all day, patting his shoulder with inexplicable camaraderie and giving him thumb-up signs whenever he looked in their direction.

The team's strange antics hadn't abated while they battled Doom that afternoon and now they were giggling like naughty children in the middle of S.H.I.E.L.D's debriefing, relishing the look of outrage that flitted through Fury's face every time his gaze fell over the 'Grumpy Elf' Loki had given him earlier in the day with the instruction to ask Stark about it, if he didn't know what it meant.

Loki ignored everyone, focusing on the day's business with grim resolution. He was desperately determined to return to the relative safety of his miserable hovel, needing the reassurance that only a place where the world hadn't changed randomly overnight and everything still made perfect sense to him could possibly offer him.

He stared straight ahead, allowing the team's post-battle discussion to wash over him, unheard. He had no interest in analyzing the statistics of the fight or arguing about what kind of strategy would have saved this ancient tree or that divorcee's car. Such minutia was immaterial in the heat of battle, anyway. Someone should explain the concept of collateral damage to Fury's annoying World Council.

"...impressed with you, Brother." Thor's hand settled suddenly at the back of his neck, driving him out of his musings with the painfully familiar gesture, and he blinked with confusion upon finding himself in a Fury-less room with the entire team around him.

"Hmmmm." He muttered noncommittally, aware that he'd missed half of whatever Thor was nattering about but unwilling to request clarification, lest he drove his not-brother to accuse him again of disrespecting the Midgardians by switching off during their tedious meetings.

"You didn't hear a single one of Thor's words, did you, Reindeer? You had your I'm-Already-Bored-To-Tears-Of-This-Debriefing look going on. I recognize the expression, handsome. I'm the guy who made it fashionable."

Loki stiffened from head to toes, expecting some sort of verbal attack now that Stark had exposed his inattention. The Avengers sighed with inexplicable indulgence and chuckled in amusement when Thor ruffled his hair fondly, earning himself a dark glare.

"Unhand me, you, oaf! This infernal debriefing is finally over and I wish to go home."

"None of that, rock of the ages. You already deprived me of the pleasure of watching Fury explode like a supernova when you handed him that elf. You've got balls of steel, Loki, and anyone on this team who shows that kind of gumption gets his own pizza party. We're gonna sit in my living-room for the next couple of hours and toast to your bravery until we're all blind drunk. You're not allowed to skip this invitation in any shape or form, got it? I'm fucking tired of staring at your empty seat on our weekly get-togethers." Stark growled, shaking a stern finger in his direction that left Loki utterly speechless.

"Let's watch holiday cartoons while we're at it. I call the Charlie Brown special!" Romanov interjected at that point, creating the kind of disgruntled diversion that shifted everyone's attention away from Loki before he could make his excuses and escape.

Thor's booming laughter sounded suspiciously relieved when he turned towards the door, dragging Loki forcibly behind. Stark cut off his other viable exit by looping a friendly arm over his shoulders, burning a hole through his jumper that seeped warmth past the cloth and weakened his resolve, draining his will of resistance.

**TBC**


	4. Furious Retaliation

**Title: Furious Retaliation.**

**Author:** Teofse

**Fandom:** MCU

**Pairing:** Loki/Tony

**Characters:** Loki, Tony Stark

**Rating:** G.

**Word count:** 586

**Disclaimer:** These characters belong to Marvel (both comics and movies). No money is being made out of this work.

**A/N**: Unbetaed. Post Avengers AU, disregards Iron Man 3 and Thor: TDW. Written for the adventdrabbles 2014. **prompt 4: Secret Santa.**

**Summary:** "Shut up, Tony! You're making everything worse."

**Furious Retaliation.**

Loki hid his amusement as one Avenger after another stumbled onto Stark's conference room carrying either a steaming cup of coffee or a bottle of painkillers. The pizza party he'd earned with his supposed act of courage hadn't been as awkward as he'd feared and even Romanov's strange entertainment selection had been hilarious enough, once Banner had taken pity on them and explained the intricacies of the characters to the good Captain, Thor and himself.

He'd gone home in high spirits, carrying the unfamiliar memory of an evening spent among a group of warriors who, for once, hadn't set out to either mock him for his love of magic or make him feel like an unwelcome outsider. His belly had been full too, burdened a combination of cold beer and slices of what his host had called 'The Everything,' which was apparently the best thing that had ever happened to pizza since the invention of the five cheese topping.

The Avengers' ill-fated attempt to drink Thor under the table had resulted in a rather amusing spectacle for both himself and his not-brother, allowing them to share a strange moment of... communion... over the silly mortals' antics that had also followed him home, hindering his sleep for hours.

Today, though, they were all paying for yesterday's excess in one way or another. Every member of the team -bar the captain- was clearly struggling with hangover and his br... No. His not-brother looked as sleep-deprived as he, himself, felt. 'Serves him right, for messing with my head.'

The only person in the conference room who was smiling like a wolf among plump sheep was Nick Fury, who seemed to have called this bloody meeting at 3:45 am on a Thursday morning just to pay them back for the Grumpy Elf stunt, by the looks of it.

They slumped on their chairs, groaning pitifully under their breaths while the director's sole eye glowed with unholy glee and Stark's punctiliously polite J.A.R.V.I.S kept insisting that 'Sir' was 'on his way.'

Twenty-five interminably long minutes later what looked like the worst version of his crush Loki had ever seen stumbled into the room and collapsed, bleary-eyed, on the chair closest to him. A sleepy head, topped with the most adorable looking bed-hair in the whole of Midgard, plopped heavily on his shoulder, making him go rigid all the way down to his toes even as a clearly groggy Tony nosed the side of his neck and whined an odd request:

"Tell me you can turn that bastard into the ugliest one-eyed toad in existence, Reindeer. I think he called this meeting just to prove his dick is bigger than yours."

"Shut up, Tony! You're making everything worse." Barton barked over Loki's spluttered response but Fury merely laughed, viciously delighted.

"On the contrary, Stark. I've called this meeting to honor your precious holiday tradition and, since you're the grumpiest man around, I'll leave your... elf... with you. A round of Secret Santa would have been better than this, though. Petty name-calling is hardly useful to us, specially when new custom-made weapons would have made our daily jobs a heck of a lot easier. And even though, according to the relevant health files, Loki's godly dick is indeed bigger than mine, trust me when I tell you that mine is more bad-ass. This meeting is now adjourned." He growled, throwing the Grumpy Elf at Stark's head on his way out and leaving everyone in the room gaping dumbly after him, utterly speechless.

**TBC**


	5. Breaking Point

**Title:** Breaking Point.

**Author:** Teofse

**Fandom:** MCU

**Pairing:** Loki/Tony

**Characters:** Loki, Tony Stark

**Rating:** G.

**Word count:** 600

**Disclaimer:** These characters belong to Marvel (both comics and movies). No money is being made out of this work.

A/N: Unbetaed. Post Avengers AU, disregards Iron Man 3 and Thor: TDW. Written for the adventdrabbles 2014. **prompt 5: Snowstorm.**

**Summary:** Loki couldn't understand what sort of trick Thor's infernal mortals were trying to play on him, but he wasn't willing to become their helpless victim.

**Breaking Point.**

Despite being the one who'd involved Fury in their little 'Grumpy Elf' game the Avengers never blamed Loki for the meeting debacle. They went back to sleep and, by the time they resurfaced, Stark was driving them insane with the horrifying question of why, exactly, the Director had bothered to memorize the length of Loki's equipment and what were the chances that he'd also memorized the details of their own, unless Loki's godly goods were really that memorable...

Thor had cheerfully pointed out that Loki was unusually tall and slender by Asgardian standards, sparking the annoying muffled giggling that now followed him everywhere.

Barton and Stark kept staring at him with an intrigued curiosity that made him blush like a flustered maiden every time he encountered them, but he hadn't felt truly self-conscious until he'd lifted his gaze from the report he'd been writing about the quality of Doom's magical ability to find Romanov leaning on the library's doorway, staring at him unblinkingly.

"How may I help you, my Lady?" He inquired, so fascinated by idea that the 'Gypsies' who spawned Doom possessed some sort of Midgardian natural magic, that her contemplative behavior failed to strike him as odd.

"You can't. Unless you're willing to share the exact details."

He blinked, hopelessly confused:

"I don't understand."

"We're taking bets on the size of it, Loki."

"The size of what?" He questioned dumbly and was taken aback by the half-teasing, half-leering eyebrow wiggle he received in response.

"The size of your godly goods, what else? Stark is in a tizzy over the idea that if you're bigger than Fury and Thor, then you're probably bigger than him, too. That man is a bloody size queen."

Loki gaped, absolutely appalled by the nature of the conversation she was attempting to have in a place where the walls, literally, had ears.

"I fail to see how such gratuitous speculation will help us defeat our foes, my Lady." He offered primly, trying his best not to squirm with embarrassment when she looked at him sharply.

"You're not a virgin, are you?"

"That is none of your business!" He snarled, beyond uncomfortable, and was on the verge of embarking on a scathing tirade about the lack of decorum her intrusive questioning betrayed when Stark bounced into the room with suspiciously perfect timing.

"The first snowstorm of the year is about to hit New York and I've convinced Bad-ass Nick-dick to let you stay here, if you want, Reindeer."

The unexpected invitation made Loki feel irrationally threatened and the fact that Stark was looking at him with inexplicable hopefulness played further havoc with his fraying composure.

"Why would I want to stay here and endure your tasteless jokes?" He snapped defensively, unable to understand what sort of trick Thor's infernal mortals were trying to play on him, but unwilling to become their helpless victim. He was in love with Stark and discovering that the man was faking friendliness just to humiliate him with rejection at a later date would surely break him. Fraternizing with the Avengers was an act of foolishness he couldn't afford to commit.

"We'll cut off the teasing, if it bothers you that much, Loki. We're just trying to... connect. Nobody here wants to hurt you."

"Has it ever occurred to you that I may not want such connection? Mixing with my br—with Thor's friends has only ever brought me heartache."

"You can't compare us to the Warriors-What's-Their-Name. They all sound like outright assholes."

"That's not the point, Stark. The point is that I—I... I'm tired of being... breakable."

**TBC**


	6. Battling The Monster

**Title: Battling The Monster.**

**Author:** Teofse

**Fandom:** MCU

**Pairing:** Loki/Tony

**Characters:** Loki, Tony Stark

**Rating:** G.

**Word count:** 600

**Disclaimer:** These characters belong to Marvel (both comics and movies). No money is being made out of this work.

**A/N**: Unbetaed. Post Avengers AU, disregards Iron Man 3 and Thor: TDW. This is the next part of my adventdrabbles 2014 series: No Tine For Sentiment. **picture prompt 6:** **Holiday Hangover.**

**Summary:** He couldn't walk away, though, because that would prove him out to be the monster he was trying so very hard never to become.

**Battling The Monster.**

The snowstorm had come and gone, burying the city under a soft white layer that sparkled in the moonlight. Loki ambled down the wide, eerily deserted avenues, marveling at how different New York looked under six feet of snow. The strictly-drawn Midgardian roads had lost their clearly defined edges, most vehicles had turned into shapeless lumps that dotted the landscape like hopelessly deformed bushes, and the silky-soft flurries still swirling in the air added a rather hypnotic beauty to the uncharacteristically peaceful atmosphere.

Loki turned the corner and almost tripped over a fallen stranger. The man's lack of proper attire was the first thing that struck him and he rushed instinctively forward, assuming he'd been the victim of a robbery. It took him only a second to realize the mortal was merely drunk. Passed out from what looked like one hell of a holiday hangover. There must had been some sort of office party going on nearby and this ridiculous creature had been too pickled to heed the weather warnings.

"You'd have frozen to death if I hadn't come out exploring, you idiot." He whispered, enveloping the man in a softly glowing cocoon of warm magic with a snap of his fingers. He conjured a thick pair of pants and a matching jumper, covering the stranger's disturbing Father-Christmas underwear with something that would help preserve his modesty and heat his chilled skin. A swift glance around allowed him to spot the rest of the Santa costume he must had been wearing and Loki wondered how much alcohol had been involved in convincing the mortal to strip down in weather as foul as this.

"You'll die if I leave you here, but I don't know where to take you." The street looked deserted, rendering the possibility of attracting further help simply unachievable and Loki didn't have enough knowledge of Midgardian culture to even guess how to contact the pertinent authorities. He'd never had to deal with such minute details working for S.H.I.E.L.D and therefore hadn't bothered to learn them.

A moment or two passed while he contemplated his options, regretting his impulsive decision to leave his coat behind. The Stark-phone he'd been given was safely tucked into one of its pockets, hopelessly out his reach right now.

Contacting his br—Thor would be useless, since he'd be probably as clueless as Loki himself, and that left him with very few options indeed. He couldn't stomach the idea of summoning Fury and there was no way of predicting how Banner would react to being startled awake by a magical clone in the middle of the night.

'Stark wouldn't break a sweat, though, and he's probably still awake...' The thought came to him, unbidden, and he couldn't shake it off. The more he tried to plot another way to get the passed-out stranger to safety the more he realized Iron Man was his best bet.

He dithered a second longer, torn between the desire to assist this ridiculous mortal and his reluctance to interact any further with Stark. He couldn't walk away, though, because that would prove him out to be the monster he was trying so very hard never to become. He may have been born to be one, but that didn't mean he couldn't overcome his awful nature. Shape himself into something else, something better.

An elegant rune, traced swiftly on cold air, conjured a perfectly-rendered clone of himself and he teleported it to the Avenger's Tower before he could change his mind, the single instruction he'd given it still ringing softly in his ears:

"Bring Stark to me. Tell him that I... need... him."

**TBC**


	7. Rescuing The Rescuer

**Title:** **Rescuing The Rescuer.**  
**Author**_**: **_**Teofse**  
**Fandom:** MCU  
**Pairing: **Loki/Tony  
**Characters**: Loki, Tony Stark  
**Rating**: G.  
**Word** **count**: 590  
**Disclaimer**: These characters belong to Marvel (both comics and movies). No money is being made out of this work.  
**A/N**: Unbetaed. Post Avengers AU, disregards Iron Man 3 and Thor: TDW. This is the next installment of my **adventdrabbles **2014 series No Time For Sentiment. **Prompt 7:****Sparkling Cider.**  
**Summary**: Loki had been shocked by the speed with which Stark came to his aid, arriving at his location in full Iron Man regalia within minutes of his 'call'.

**Rescuing****The Rescuer.**

Loki sat on one of the unbearably uncomfortable plastic chairs in the Hospital's waiting room while Stark filled out a staggering amount of forms on the stranger's behalf. He'd been more than a little shocked by the speed with which the Avenger came to his aid, arriving at his location in full Iron Man regalia within ten minutes of Loki's original 'call'.

He'd dealt with the situation with the same teasing irreverence with which he did everything else. One second praising Loki for the apparently 'unhealthy commitment to sports' that had led him to the streets on a night like this and disparaging the unforgivable 'rudeness' of the guy who'd interrupted his 'invigorating walk' by overindulging in sparkling cider the next.

Loki had found the frankly puzzling babble somewhat soothing, since it filled the utter silence that surrounded them with... something... while Stark's J.A.R.V.I.S scanned the stranger and declared him to be 'merely unconscious and slowly recovering from severe hypothermia.'

Iron Man's red and gold head had reared up at that, square glowing eyes swiveling towards him until they found his own gaze and proceeded to study him with only the Norns knew what expression hidden under impassive metal.  
"I take it the green glow around Sleeping Beauty is your doing?"

Apprehension had settled heavily in the pit of Loki's stomach upon hearing that strangely rough-toned non-question and he couldn't have held back the anxious query that accompanied his hesitant nod of assent even if he'd tried.  
"Has it harmed him? I aimed for gentleness but mortal bodies are so... delicate. I wasn't certain he could sustain magical healing, but he'd disrobed in this cold and was freezing to death. I had to do _something_, Stark."

"Hey, calm down." Iron Man's unexpectedly light metal glove settled on his shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly, making Loki's hopelessly besotted heart pound at the uncharacteristic gentleness of the gesture. "Nobody blames you for anything. You just saved this dude's life."

The loud screeching of the chair next to his brought Loki out of his thoughts and he lifted tired green eyes to stare directly into Stark's assessing gaze. The Avenger must have finished with the forms while he'd been looking blindly down at the case that housed the Iron Man's portable suit, pondering the events that had left him siting here, and now there was nothing left to do that would keep their interaction on a strictly business level.

"Stark..." He started hesitantly, planning to thank the mortal for his aid before teleporting back home as soon as politeness allowed, but the impossible creature interrupted him almost instantly.

"You look beat, man." He said, lifting a confident hand to loop a lock of ebony hair behind Loki's swiftly reddening ear in a touch that seared every one of his nerve-endings and robbed him of his ability to speak. "I don't care how much your pride stings at the idea of camping out at my place, but you're coming with me, Reindeer. _You _may not need to be there, but _I_ want to have you near, OK?"

Shock surged through Loki's veins like a stormy wave and he stared dumbly at the mortal, utterly stumped.  
"Why would you want such a thing?" He questioned and his puzzled curiosity found no relief whatsoever when Stark shook his head in apparent despair, smiled at him disarmingly and whispered with soft-eyed gentleness:

"That's the wrong question, sweetheart. But I'll help you figure it out by asking you the right one: why wouldn't I want _you_, Loki?"

**TBC**


	8. Heart To Heart

**Title:** Heart To Heart.

**Author:** Teofse

**Fandom:** MCU

**Pairing:** Loki/Tony

**Characters:** Loki, Tony Stark

**Rating:** G.

**Word count:** 565

**Disclaimer:** These characters belong to Marvel (both comics and movies). No money is being made out of this work.

**A/N**: Unbetaed. Post Avengers AU, disregards Iron Man 3 and Thor: TDW. This is the next installment of my** adventdrabbles 2014** series **No Time For Sentiment.**** Prompt 8: Red and/or Green.**

**Summary:** Loki sighed. Inwardly regretting his stupid decision to follow Stark here. He hadn't been awake more than five minutes and was already frustrated beyond patience with the company.

**Heart To Heart.**

Loki woke up slowly, feeling both stiff and way too warm for his liking. He'd surrendered to Stark's demand that he come back to the Tower, but had dug his heels in when the man had attempted to show him to 'his floor'.

"I don't have a floor here. That arrangement is only for the Avengers and I'm not one of them." He'd gritted out, refusing to move a step further no matter how much -or how imaginatively- Stark had attempted to cajole him into doing so.

In the end he'd forced his host to set him up on the living room couch, thus inflicting the stiffness he could feel setting at the base of his neck upon himself. He remembered very clearly having refused all bedding, though, so he couldn't immediately figure out where the stifling heat surrounding him could possibly be coming from.

Long-lashed green eyes fluttered in the quiet room, recoiling instinctively under the onslaught of the weak morning sunlight. It took him a second or two to focus properly on his surroundings and he groaned aloud when he'd finally managed it only to discover that his oaf of a br—that Thor had apparently found him in the middle of the night and decided to cover him up with his bloody red cape.

"Good morning, brother. It gladdens my heart to see you here."

"Do you have any idea of how creepy it is to spy on someone while they are asleep?" He questioned crossly, throwing the dammed cape away and conjuring himself a silky green blanket, just to spite the annoying brute.

"I was guarding your rest, just as I've done a thousand times before in our lifetime, Loki."

"We're not camping out in a wild forest. We are both safe and sound inside the Avengers' Tower. Surely you can see the difference."

"Difference... That's all you care to talk about nowadays. 'It's different now', 'We're not the same anymore', 'Things can't go back to the way they were...' I grow tired of the theme, brother."

Loki sighed. Inwardly regretting his stupid decision to follow Stark here. He hadn't been awake more than five minutes and was already frustrated beyond patience with the company.

"You should let me wake before you harass me at the very least, Thor. I had a very long night."

The oaf brightened at that, bouncing forwards until he'd perched himself on the edge of the chair he must have dragged closer to the couch and boomed practically in his ear:

"I know! Stark has regaled us all with the tale of your selfless bravery, brother."

Loki blinked, taken absolutely aback.

"Stark told you about last night? Why would he bother to do that? It's not as if I slayed a dragon or anything. I just conjured some warm clothes and called for help."

"Don't devalue your own actions in such manner. You saved a man's life while we all slept. Everyone is mightily impressed, I swear. Stark is ecstatic and I—I couldn't be prouder of you, Loki. You've just proved beyond all shadow of doubt that nothing has really changed within you. You're still the sibling I love dearly. The childhood companion my heart remembers. I don't care how long or how loudly you plan to carry on talking about our differences, lil'lo. As far as I'm concerned, you've finally returned to me, brother."

**TBC**


	9. Crumbling Resistance

**Title:** Crumbling Resistance.

**Author:** Teofse

**Fandom:** MCU

**Pairing:** Loki/Tony

**Characters:** Loki, Tony Stark

**Rating:** G.

**Word count:** 597

**Disclaimer:** These characters belong to Marvel (both comics and movies). No money is being made out of this work.

**A/N**: Unbetaed. Post Avengers AU, disregards Iron Man 3 and Thor: TDW. This is the next installment of my **adventdrabbles 2014** series **No Time For Sentiment.** **Prompt 9: The North Pole**

**Summary:** Loki could literally feel his meager resistance crumbling even as he tried to instill some sense back into their thick skulls.

**Crumbling Resistance.**

Loki had finished the breakfast Captain Rogers had set before him and was ready to announce his intention to head home when Stark stole his thunder.

"Forget it, Reindeer. Looks like the bloody North Pole out there and you don't even have a coat. I'm not letting you walk out until the snow removal crews get a hold on the mess on the streets, so you might as well save your breath."

Loki blinked, unused to being spoken thus by anyone, least of all a mortal.

"You realize I can teleport right into my apartment, don't you, Stark? I don't have to deal with the snow unless I want to."

Instead of seeing sense, as Loki had intended, his host glared frustrated daggers at him and folded his arms across his glowing chest in a mulish gesture that reminded him of his br—of Thor.

"What happens to what I want, magic fingers? I told you that I want to have you near just last night. Please don't tell me you've forgotten that already, because you'll crush my wounded heart if you do that."

"You've got to use some other excuse, Stark. That one won't work, you know? Rumor has it you don't have a heart at all, man." Barton interjected from his perch atop one of the cabinets, causing the roomful of Avengers to explode into loud laughter and momentarily diverting everyone's attention away from Loki's no doubt revealing reaction to Iron Man's thoughtless quip.

"Director Fury will object to my presence here. He was most insistent in housing me as far away from the team as possible. You store all your weapons and some sensitive information on the premises. It'd be madness to expose all of that to the man who almost destr..."

"Don't wanna hear it, babe. Don't wanna let you say it, either. I'm tired of all that 'I'm bad. I'm bad. Oh-my-gosh-I'm-so-awfully-bad' thing you've got going. So what if you brought your friends along and tried to take over the city? I sold weapons to guys who'd take over the world if we give them a chance!"

"Tony, I don't think that's the right approach to..."

"Yes, it is! We've been tiptoeing around this punk's issues for months already and none of your 'gentle approach' has worked, Rogers. He doesn't understand we really want him around every time we invite him along for our weekly get togethers. He doesn't even know I built him his own bloody floor six fucking months ago because he's too busy self-flagellating himself to listen to anything we say. The New York debacle is ancient history, Loki. Let it go already, for fuck's sake!"

Loki stood there and stared at them, wide-eyed. Hot color rose across his cheeks as his embarrassment grew and he'd have snarled something truly unforgivable in self-defensive retaliation if Thor hadn't chosen that second to step into the breach:

"Please dismiss the bluntness of the words and focus on the sentiment behind them, for it describes the truth of the team's attitude towards you, brother. You are one of us already and the only person here who isn't aware of it yet is you, Loki."

Unusually unguarded green eyes sought out the reassurance shining in Thor's earnest blue ones and Loki could literally feel his meager resistance crumbling even as he tried to instill some sense back into their thick skulls:

"Fury will never allow..."

"Leave Fury to me, Reindeer. This is my goddamned Tower. I'm the guy who decides who the hell gets to stay here. And you, my dear, are definitely staying."

**TBC**


	10. Wholehearted Acceptance

**Title: Wholehearted Acceptance.**

**Author:** Teofse

**Fandom:** MCU

**Pairing:** Loki/Tony

**Characters:** Loki, Tony Stark

**Rating:** G.

**Word count**: 818

**Disclaimer:** These characters belong to Marvel (both comics and movies). No money is being made out of this work.

**A/N:** Unbetaed. Post Avengers AU, disregards Iron Man 3 and Thor: TDW. This is the next installment of my **adventdrabbles** 2014 series No Time For Sentiment. **Prompt 10: Snowflakes.**

**Summary:** This was care and understanding on a level that humbled him. This was someone's attempt to create a... home... just for him and the very thought of it rendered him speechless.

**Wholehearted Acceptance.**

Loki knew opulence better than most. He may have been born a prince to the wrong realm, but Odin had brought him up according to his station. His rooms back in Asgard bore the hallmarks of a youth raised in luxury, but he'd had them all his life and had shaped them himself according to his own taste.

He'd been housed in thousands of lovely dwellings in his travels as an ambassador of his non-father's kingdom. He'd also been imprisoned in dismal hellholes after his fall from grace; kept in hovels like the one S.H.I.E.L.D had provided for him and left to his own devices, neither wanted nor trusted in any significant way.

This was new, though. This was different from anything he'd ever experienced or had dared to believe could be willingly bestowed upon him. This was care and understanding on a level that humbled him. This was someone's attempt to create a... home... just for him and the very thought of it rendered him speechless.

Loki walked dazedly around his new 'floor', trailing idle fingertips along the hand-waxed surface of the elegant wooden furniture he'd have picked out himself, if he'd been given the chance. There was none of Stark's own predilection for the minimalist style here. No chrome and glass anywhere. No wild, colorful splashes of unrecognizable 'somethings' on the canvases that hung up on the walls.

"Thor assured me you'd prefer the posh Victorian library design to my usual thing about space, space, space. I hope he didn't lead me down the wrong path here, because you haven't said a word since you crossed the door and I'm starting to get twitchy, Reindeer."

"I—This is beautiful, Stark. I never realized Thor knew me so well."

"Why wouldn't he? He's your brother, Loki."

Loki's already constricted throat closed off even more upon hearing those words and he looked at his host with devastated green eyes.

"He isn't. I'm not of Thor's blood. I'm a black-feathered cuckoo raised in a nest of white swans."

Stark's sharp inhalation was the only reaction he showed for a painfully long moment. Then his sensual mouth flattened into a fierce-looking line and he sighed a rather explosive "Oh, fuck this!" before strolling over and grabbing his hand unexpectedly. "I'm going to show you something, Reindeer. This is something we all made for you with our own little hands. You should be proud. I doubt Barton would have gone through the trauma of making a craft for anyone else."

Those cryptic words filled the tense silence until Stark reached the closed door that stood at the end of the corridor.

"This is your new bedroom, hot-shot. Go on. Open the door."

Loki didn't know what he'd been expecting, but it definitely wasn't the soothing chamber he encountered: elegant wooden furniture was set against a backdrop of the softest blue in existence and an entire row of wall-to-wall windows afforded him a gorgeous view of New York.

"It's right there, Loki. Directly over the bed." Stark whispered, guiding his searching gaze towards the strange ornament that hung just above his pillows.

Six long metal strings dropped down from a circular platform that was attached to the ceiling, each anchoring an object that dangled in mid-air. There was something made out of knives and something made of arrow-tips. Something else made of what looked like pencils, something made out of screwdrivers, something made out of intertwined bottle caps, painted to look like the captain's shield, and something made out of the distinctive branches of the golden willow tree that grew in his moth—in Frigga's garden.

"Snowflakes. You hung handmade snowflakes atop my bed..." He whispered, startled, and wouldn't have been able to untangle the wild mess of emotions that was making his heart pound and his green eyes prickle with the shameful heat of tears had his life depended on it."

"It was Banner's idea. He said facing your fears was the only thing that would help you in the end. That, and knowing we accept you as you are. Weird icicle-alien thing and all."

Loki stared dumbly at his host, unable to decide whether he felt thoroughly offended by that strange description or illogically touched.

"I'm not an icicle, Stark. I'm a Frost Giant. The kind of monster grown men have nightmares about."

"Sorry. Not impressed. I live with the Hulk, man. A blue alien with icy skin doesn't sound that interesting when compared to him."

Loki gaped, shocked beyond description.

"But I am..."

"You. You are you, Loki. You are wise and stupid and brilliant and needy and twisted, all at once. You're messed up in the head, just like the rest of us, and you are home here. You're among pals. You're surrounded by people who think snowflakes are bloody awesome, so... chill, budd. Chill and let all that monster shit go. It's time to embrace who you are."

**TBC**


	11. First Step Forwards

**Title: First Step Forwards.**

**Author:** Teofse

**Fandom:** MCU

**Pairing:** Loki/Tony

**Characters:** Loki, Tony Stark

**Rating:** G.

**Word count**: 738

**Disclaimer:** These characters belong to Marvel (both comics and movies). No money is being made out of this work.

**A/N**: Unbetaed. Post Avengers AU, disregards Iron Man 3 and Thor: TDW. This is the next installment of my **adventdrabbles** 2014 series No Time For Sentiment. **Prompt 11: Christmas carol sheet music, jingle bells, greenery and ornaments. **

**Summary:** "Stark was right. They're willing to accept me as I am. They have a place for me here. I could fit in, if I try."

**First Step Forwards.**

Loki was too proud to hide, no matter how ambivalent he felt about the wisdom of trusting the Avengers' supposed acceptance of him at face value or how much Stark's blatant favoritism was messing with his head.

Two days. It had taken the team a mere two days of treating his presence among them like something so expected, so ordinary, that it wasn't even worth mentioning it in passing to put his worst suspicions at rest. He'd heard about the 'epic' fight Stark and Fury had over his unsanctioned move to the tower, but hadn't been present for it. None of them had been, although Barton claimed to have heard most of what was said from his 'nest' in the air vent.

"You got yourself a fierce champion, Loki." Was all he'd said on the matter, patting his shoulder amiably as he passed him on the corridor, and Loki's hopelessly besotted heart had lodged itself in his throat as he tried -and failed- to stem the wave of pure hope that rose within him at the idea that Stark wanted him here badly enough to face the director's wrath.

Every hour he spent among the team was emotionally stressful, but he wouldn't have exchanged the pleasure of finding himself so accepted for all the riches of Asgard. Now he stood beside the doorway to the main-floor living room, looking curiously in as the Avengers hovered around the humongous tree they'd dragged in that morning.

There were half-opened boxes, filled to the brim with shinny ornaments, strewn all over the place. Banner held a Christmas carol sheet music in his left hand and was attempting to convince poor Romanov to sing it with him. Barton was putting his love of heights to good use, pinning garlands of greenery around the ceiling while Stark expertly juggled five tinny jingle bells and ignored the captain's efforts to get his input on whether they should have Thor move the tree closer to the window or leave it where it was.

'So this is what Christmas feels like.' Loki thought to himself, remembering the films he'd seen on TV about the mortals' winter holiday. Back in his small hovel, he'd whiled his time away in front of the strange machine for hours at a time, learning a million things about Midgardian culture, and becoming both intrigued and just a tad jealous of some of them. The concept of Christmas as a time to share things with family and friends, as a time to give something meaningful to others and make the effort to remind your most beloved of their importance in your life had captivated him from the word go. He'd never imagined he'd be allowed to experience any of that first hand, though. Least of all with the Avengers.

"There you are, Loki. We've been waiting for you, man." Stark said as soon as he spotted him hovering by the door. The jingle bells he'd been playing with fell, forgotten, around him as those beautiful amber-colored eyes regarded him with amusement. "Don't be afraid to come closer, Reindeer. I promise not to let my giant tree eat you up."

"I'd be more afraid of your tree if it had actual teeth, like the ones in Nidavellir. This one doesn't even have thorns."

"You've seen trees with freaking teeth? Gosh! I haven't traveled nearly enough. Why must all the awesome places be outside the frigging planet? It's so unfair!" Amused titters rose around the room at Stark's annoyed grumble and Loki felt suddenly lighter. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been the cause of anyone's laughter and he'd missed the joy it brought him.

"I could conjure an illusion for you, let you see the land of the Dwarfs through the power of magic."

"Cool! Let's do that after dinner. Sounds much better than watching Star Trek re-runs again." Barton piped up from above and, just like that, Loki's magic was accepted by the fiercest warriors on Midgard, leaving him totally gobsmacked.

"Stark was right." He thought as he finally entered the room. "They're willing to accept me as I am. They have a place for me here. I could fit in, if I try. Maybe it's safe to relax around these mortals. Maybe I won't have cause to regret placing my trust in their hands or even going as far as to find just a little time for... sentiment."

**TBC**


	12. Unexpected Developments

**Title: Unexpected Development.**

**Author:** Teofse

**Fandom:** MCU

**Pairing:** Loki/Tony

**Characters:** Loki, Tony Stark

**Rating:** G.

**Word count**: 753

**Disclaimer:** These characters belong to Marvel (both comics and movies). No money is being made out of this work.

**A/N**: Unbetaed. Post Avengers AU, disregards Iron Man 3 and Thor: TDW. This is the next installment of my **adventdrabbles** 2014 series No Time For Sentiment. **Prompt 12: Fairy lights**

**Summary:** "That was... unexpected" He whispered, searching the mortal's gaze with anxious green eyes.

**Unexpected Development.**

From all the decorations they'd strewn about the place a few days back, Loki liked the fairy lights that hung on Stark's terrace the best. The wind made them dangle softly in their little rope of cables and Rogers had managed to convince Stark to hook tiny bells in them, so they jingled melodiously as they swayed, bringing a smile to his face.

He stretched out on one of the chaise longues and studied them idly, trying to imagine a universe where only they existed, entire galaxies condensed in these gently rocking strings of twinkling lights...

"I knew I'd find you here. You seem to like this place a lot, Reindeer."

Loki startled, breaking away from his whimsical thoughts to smile shyly at Stark.

"What's not to like? It's beautiful out here."

His host wrinkled his nose in disgruntled accord, huddling deeper into the coat he wore and muttering:

"It's bloody cold, too. I keep thinking we're probably roasting you alive with the heating. That's why you come out here so often, isn't it?"

Loki shrugged, watching the engineer approach with wary green eyes.

"I'm a sorcerer, Stark. Very few things ever bother me, unless I wish to be bothered."

"Handy, that. Could you make the cold I'm feeling disappear or is that a big sorcerer no-no?"

Loki's breath caught in his throat and he moved forwards in the lounger, body tensing into a half-sitting position as he tried to assess the sincerity of that bold request.

"You'd trust me to perform magic on you? That's... unusual, to say the least."

Stark shrugged and sat at the edge of Loki's chaise, trapping him against the cushions by the simple act of leaning slightly over him.

"I'm an unusual guy, snowflake. Some folks think I'm totally crazy, but they're wrong. I'm a genius, you see? And all geniuses are... intuitive."

Loki swallowed as he pressed back against the cushions, attempting to keep proper distance between them.

"And what does your intuition tell you?" He whispered, looking up into those beautiful amber-colored eyes and losing himself inside them.

"It tells me to trust you like I wish you would trust me. It tells me to lean forwards just a little closer and brush your lips with mine. It tells me we could be bloody amazing together."

Loki's stomach fluttered with nerves as Stark suited actions to words. The mortal's head moved closer, approaching his own oh-so-slowly. Soft lips brushed his in the next second: tentative and gentle, warm beyond compare.

Stark's hesitant approach vanished as soon as Loki sighed into the delicate caress and he pressed his mouth closer, eager lips opening wide enough to allow a bold, probing tongue to tangle passionately with the asgardian's. Loki groaned, allowing Stark to kiss the living daylights out of him, push him back into the cushions and tangle calloused hands in his hair. His mind blurred and he lost himself in the sweet surge of newborn desire as their first, ever, kiss gentled, exchanging passionate hunger for disarming tenderness until Loki felt so raw and exposed, so completely terrified by the possibility that Stark could feel the true depth of his affection in the gentle passion of their kiss that he pulled away in a panic.

"That was... unexpected." He whispered uncertainly, searching the mortal's gaze with anxious green eyes.

"I sincerely hope it was the right kind of unexpected, because I'll probably die if you don't let me do it again."

Loki's gut churned unpleasantly as he realized he could grace his crush's bed in the next half hour if he played his cards wisely. He was in love with the man, though. Having so little of him when he wanted so much more would probably destroy him.

"Kisses come and go all the time, Stark. Nobody has ever died of lust."

Blunt-tipped fingertips settled gently under his chin, bringing his averted gaze back into collision with uncharacteristically grave eyes.

"Not all kisses are born out of lust, Reindeer."

Loki's green eyes widened impossibly:

"I'm not ready for..."

"Sentiment. I know. Thor explained your weird hang-up about affection to us."

"Affection complicates everything."

"It also makes life worth it."

"Stark..." Loki whispered, suddenly terrified, but the frustratingly bold mortal dared to kiss his mouth silent.

"Don't push me away out of fear. We'll go as slow as you need, I promise. All I want is a chance. Just one chance, Loki."

"If this is a trick..."

"It's not. I swear. I want you for real."

**TBC**


	13. Partying In Style

**Title: Partying In Style.**

**Author:** Teofse

**Fandom:** MCU

**Pairing:** Loki/Tony

**Characters:** Loki, Tony Stark

**Rating:** G.

**Word count:** 836

**Disclaimer:** These characters belong to Marvel (both comics and movies). No money is being made out of this work.

**A/N**: Unbetaed. Post Avengers AU, disregards Iron Man 3 and Thor: TDW. This is the next installment of my **adventdrabbles** 2014 series No Time For Sentiment. **Prompt 13: Ugly Sweater Party**

**Summary:** "I'm glad you brought me along, Stark. I've never seen anything like this in all my years."

**Partying In Style.**

Loki stared around the room with eyes as round as marbles. He'd been thunderstruck as soon as the Lady Jane had opened her door sporting the most unsightly garment he'd ever seen a self-respecting female wear, and the fact that Thor's bulky frame had been standing right beside her, covered from neck to waist in something equally atrocious had left him wondering if someone had bashed him on the head hard enough to make him hallucinate.

"You've outdone yourself this year, Jane!" Tony had squealed before Loki could open his mouth and then proceeded to leave him even more befuddled by assuring their frowning host that "We've got proper attire in this bag, baby-doll. We flew over in the jet and I didn't want to upset the flight attendants, but I swear on J.A.R.V.I.S' honor that our sweaters are definitely the ugliest money can buy. We're gonna rock this ugly sweater party, people!"

That had been nearly two hours ago and, since then, Loki had been marched into a tiny guestroom by an overexcited Tony and an equally eager Thor and stuffed inside the eye-watering aberration he was currently wearing. Ugly sweaters were a midgardian Christmas tradition, apparently, and Thor had embraced it with unusual abandon the first time Jane invited him to her annual bash because "It reminded me of you, brother. I walked around in a daze and kept thinking to myself: lil'lo would have loved to see all these mortals laugh so freely at their own silliness."

'I do love it.' Loki acknowledged to himself, leaning unobtrusively against the wall and feasting his eyes on the glorious absurdity of the sweaters on display. He'd adored Banner's weirdly skinny, green, furry creature one with its razor-sharp smile and thin plume of yellow hair. Romanov's overly bedazzled 'nutcracker' number had left them all in absolute shock at it's bewildering lack of her signature black. Barton's bearded-collared horror had been longer than he was tall and Tony's... Tony's was a bizarre maze of lumpy brown yarn that screeched the same odd message every time he moved:

"I've been naughty, Naughty, NAUGHTY! That's why I've turned into coal!"

"There you are, Reindeer. I was worried that Jane's party would be too much for you but, now that I've seen you take this mayhem in your stride like the champ Thor swears you are, I'm more confident that there's nothing we can throw at you that could possibly overwhelm you."

Loki smiled at the man who'd conspired with his br—with Thor to drag him here, realizing that he wouldn't have missed this for all the ice left in Jotunheim, if he'd known about it beforehand.

"I'm glad you brought me along, Stark. I've never seen anything like this in all my years."

Stark reached out to brush gentle fingertips over his smiling lips, whispering softly as he did so:

"Having fun suits you, snowflake."

Loki blinked at him, unsure of what to do with such public display of affection. They'd kissed out on the terrace just last night for the first time and, although, the engineer had corralled him in the corridor as soon as he'd left his room in the morning and planted one on his lips with a fervor that had left them both breathless, they hadn't had enough time to iron out the details of their supposed 'dating'.

Thor had interrupted them mid-conversation, reminding Tony that they were expected at Jane's by six o'clock, before launching himself into the air and the engineer had slapped his own forehead hard enough to make his teeth rattle and dashed away in a rush of activity, the purpose of which Loki hadn't comprehended until he'd been presented with his own ugly sweater.

"What's wrong?" Tony asked him now, latching onto his obvious discomfort with disconcerting speed. "I know you're shy, Loki, but tensing like that over such small touch is a bit... odd."

"No one has ever held me thus in public, Stark. I'm not all that desirable to Asgardians, so my past companions tended to keep our association under wraps."

"Is that what you want to do?" Stark frowned, clearly unhappy with the idea.

Loki shook his head hurriedly, unwilling to lose the beautiful gift of romantic acknowledgment now that he'd finally received it.

"I was startled, that's all. I'm not used to being physically admired, least of all in such a public setting, but I like it, Stark. I really, really, like it."

Tony grinned from ear to ear, and pushed himself up on his tiptoes to place the most delicate of kisses upon Loki's shy smile.

"Wait until you see the kind of physical admiration you'll get when you finally remember to call me Tony. I promise you the smooch to end all hot smooches, a kiss that will blow your socks off. You may want to start practicing the greatest T-word out there in your spare time, snowflake, because whispering it in my ear is gonna make you see stars."

**TBC**


	14. Confessions In The Snow

**Title: Confessions In The Snow.**

**Author:** Teofse

**Fandom:** MCU

**Pairing:** Loki/Tony

**Characters:** Loki, Tony Stark

**Rating:** G.

**Word count:** 589

**Disclaimer:** These characters belong to Marvel (both comics and movies). No money is being made out of this work.

**A/N:** Unbetaed. Post Avengers AU, disregards Iron Man 3 and Thor: TDW. This is the next installment of my adventdrabbles 2014 series No Time For Sentiment. Prompt 14: Snow Angels.

**Summary:** "Has it ever occurred to you that I do it to be special? I don't want to be like every other person to you, Anthony. I want to be unique."

**Confessions In The Snow.**

Loki adored the cold weather. He'd often leave the tower in the middle of the day -or night- to wander the snow-packed streets for hours on end, simply enjoying the refreshing touch of the cold wind on his skin while watching the city struggle with the limitations the icy temperature forced upon it. He found snow plows fascinating and liked to follow them down the road, just to watch them heap their displaced cargo on ever-growing piles that reminded him of misshapen, little mountains.

"We could go to the park and make snow angels instead of just standing here, freezing our bones but getting no fun whatsoever out of it."

Loki's fascinated gaze turned away from the heavy vehicles, settling on Tony's behatted form with intrigued curiosity.

"What are snow angels? I've never heard that term before." He inquired, uncharacteristically relaxed about exposing his lack of knowledge. He'd discovered in the last few days that his mortal relished the challenge of introducing him to new things and experiences. Tony never tired of following him around the streets like a faithful coat-wrapped shadow, claiming that he enjoyed watching his delighted fascination with 'the weirdest things.'

Golden-brown eyes lit up at the prospect of showing him whatever these snow angels were. Cold-chapped lips quirked upwards and a pair of gloved hands came up in the air, tracing a vaguely triangular design in the space between them.

"They are a shape you leave on the ground. Like a footprint of your entire body, only you move your arms and legs about so they'll leave an impression of wings. Kids do it all the time whenever there's fresh snow. All we've got to do is throw ourselves on the floor and trash about like crazy. The more we wriggle in the snow, the deeper the impression we'll leave, you see?"

Loki frowned at the prospect of exposing Tony's obviously already cold limbs to such child-like activity.

"You must let me cast a warming bubble around you before you launch yourself onto the snow. I don't want you to get sick, Anthony."

"Nobody calls me Anthony anymore. You just do it to be contrary."

Loki smiled at his mortal's disgruntled grumble and decided to trust him enough to explain his reasoning:

"Has it ever occurred to you that I do it to be special? I don't want to be like every other person to you, Anthony. I want to be unique."

Tony's lovely eyes widened impossibly and his entire body stilled as every muscle focused intently on him.

"Maybe I think you're unique already. Has it ever occurred to you that you shouldn't need to work so hard to get other people to notice how bloody amazing you are?"

Loki's gaze skittered away self-consciously.

"I may need a bit more time for such strange concept to sink in. In the mean time, using your full name when I know nobody else does helps me remember I'm... yours."

A gloved hand sneaked around his hips, guiding him carefully forwards. Their bodies came into full-blown connection and his eyes clashed with Tony's a mere second before reverent cold lips pressed a small, but fervent kiss atop his cloth-covered heart, making him marvel at how very deeply such simple caress could touch him long before he ever heard the quiet words that accompanied it:

"Just remember I'm yours too, snowflake. You're not the only one here who needs to belong to someone, you know? I want to be yours just as badly as you want to be mine."

**TBC.**


	15. Diplomacy In Action

**Title: Diplomacy In Action.**

**Author:** Teofse

**Fandom:** MCU

**Pairing:** Loki/Tony

**Characters:** Loki, Tony Stark

**Rating:** G.

**Word count:** 733

**Disclaimer:** These characters belong to Marvel (both comics and movies). No money is being made out of this work.

**A/N:** Unbetaed. Post Avengers AU, disregards Iron Man 3 and Thor: TDW. This is the next installment of my **adventdrabbles** 2014 series No Time For Sentiment. **Prompt 15: Christmas Duck.**

**Summary:** "Let my brother deal with this, then. Diplomatic solutions are his specialty."

**Diplomacy In Action.**

Loki teleported to the coordinates Coulson had given him and stared, wide-eyed, at the strange robotic contraption that was rampaging through Manhattan, creating havoc among the civilians as it waddled down the streets.

"Shoot the goddamned thing already, Stark. The cost estimates I'm getting for the damage its causing are making my eye twitch." The director's voice was so loud across the communication system that Loki flinched in sympathetic reaction but, judging by Anthony's irreverent retort, he hadn't been similarly affected.

"Sorry. No can do, bad-ass Nick-dick. I can't shoot a bloody Christmas duck, no matter how badly behaved. Every kid who watches me do it on the news is going to have nightmares about the Avengers killing the cutest robot, ever. Their moms will stop buying the team's monogrammed T-shirts. It'll be a PR disaster, man."

"I don't care about your stupid T-shirts, Stark. I want Duckzilla neutralized in the next five seconds, do you hear me?" Fury growled in response only to be answered by a cool-headed captain Rogers who, to Loki's utter shock, seconded Iron Man's refusal to fire directly at the 'duck'.

"I think Tony is right about this one, director. Doom's creation is incredibly appealing. If we destroy it so openly it'll turn public sympathy against us. The press will report the Avengers' cold-blooded 'murder' of the most adorable yellow duck in existence, just because it will sell more papers. Nobody will bother to remember the loss of property it caused."

"I can deal with the bloody press, Rogers!"

"Can you, Sir?" Coulson pipped up, shocking everyone with his unusual intervention. "If Doom used this particularly... hugable... design, chances are he already has the press in his pocket. You'll be starting damage control from scratch while he's miles ahead of you. "

"Oh, for fucks' sake! You're all a bunch of sentimental ninnies! What do you suggest we do, then? We can't let this aberration get away with trampling Manhattan just because it's cute and wears a Santa hat."

"Let my brother deal with this, then. Diplomatic solutions are his specialty." Thor pipped up, joining the conversation with eardrum-damaging eagerness.

"Doom refuses to negotiate. Diplomacy won't get that duck off the streets, Thor."

"Let Loki shoot it, then." Natasha proposed to a chorus of enthusiastic agreement that was abruptly interrupted by a thoroughly irritated Tony.

"No. Absolutely not. Bringing this thing down will ruin Loki's hard-won reputation. I'm not letting him take on the Avengers' dirty work all on his own. If a task is too shitty for us, then it's too shitty for him. He's one of us, people: One. Of. Us."

Loki's throat constricted in reaction to Anthony's defense. He'd never had anyone questioning authority in his behalf before and the idea that his mortal would try to veto a sound plan of action to save him from public scorn, made him weak at the knees.

"My brother's reputation will be safe, Man of Iron. He can neutralize our foe without 'shooting' him. Loki is a brilliant illusionist."

"Can you do that, snowflake?" The engineer's question, asked softly enough to make everyone realize that it was meant for Loki's ears alone made the sorcerer smile and whisper equally softly:

"Of course I can, Anthony. Watch this."

He turned the duck into Iron Man in the next second and the Avengers' shocked gasps inspired him into shifting Doom's little creation into every other Avenger in quick succession. He even added a final rendition of Fury in all his glory, just to hear the team's badly suppressed giggling over the communication system. The 'duck' had come to an abrupt halt mid-way through the shape-shifting, so shrinking it before teleporting it directly to the Quinjet took not time at all. Loki masked the capture with a perfectly timed shower of multicolored confetti that fell over the enthralled crowd as the duck disappeared, earning the public's enthusiastic applause for his efforts.

"That was bloody awesome, snowflake." Tony's awed whisper came loud and clear through his ear-piece. It was followed almost immediately by similar praise coming from the rest of the Avengers and even Fury, himself. Loki basked in their approval, feeling finally... accomplished. The team had trusted his skills to get them out of a sticky situation and hadn't turned on him as soon as their goal had been achieved. He was truly valued. Honored. Accepted, even. He had finally become one of the Avengers.

**TBC**


	16. Meeting 'Santa'

**Title: Meeting 'Santa'.**

**Author:** Teofse

**Fandom:** MCU

**Pairing:** Loki/Tony

**Characters:** Loki, Tony Stark

**Rating:** G.

**Word count:** 583

**Disclaimer:** These characters belong to Marvel (both comics and movies). No money is being made out of this work.

**A/N:** Unbetaed. Post Avengers AU, disregards Iron Man 3 and Thor: TDW. This is the next installment of my **adventdrabbles** 2014 series No Time For Sentiment. **Prompt 16: Santa's lap.**

**Summary:** He hadn't understood what Rogers meant when he'd said he was going to play 'Santa' for the day and the round of raucous laughter the announcement gathered from the rest of the team hadn't clued him, either.

**Meeting 'Santa'.**

The idea of sitting on anyone's lap was utterly foreign to Loki. But the thought of all these mortal children queuing for ages, just to sit on Santa's lap was even more disconcerting. He hadn't understood what Rogers meant when he'd said he was going to play 'Santa' for the day and the round of raucous laughter the announcement gathered from the rest of the team hadn't clued him, either.

Tony had noticed his curiosity and convinced all the Avengers to accompany Rogers because "We really should take a picture of that, folks." So that's how they'd ended up here, scattered by ones and twos around a huge shopping center and trying to be as inconspicuous as the entire Avenger team suddenly arriving together at any given location could possibly be, while laughing at the captain's bearded costume whenever they passed Santa's grotto.

Loki loved the lights that were strung everywhere. He loved the bustling crowds and the strange and jingly music they kept repeating in a never-ending loop over the speaker system. Tony had called them Christmas Carols, smiling tenderly at his question and grabbing his hand to guide him towards a store that sold them in little boxes. Loki had enthusiastically grabbed a few slim squares before he'd thought his actions through and halted his hoarding mid-motion, suddenly uncertain.

"What's the matter, snowflake? I thought you liked this music."

"Will the rest of the team object to the idea of listening to it? I never hear any sound coming from the speaker system at the tower, unless its either J.A.R.V.I.S' voice or I've been sent to retrieve you from your lab."

"That's because every floor has it's own unique 'sound zone'. That way you can hear your stuff down at your place without bothering anyone else. I'll even play a few CDs in my private living-room if you promise to come hear them with me. We could snuggle on the couch together, drink hot cocoa and stare dreamily at the fireplace. That's a very couple-y thing to do for Christmas."

Loki's breath hitched and he studied Tony's hopeful features with hopefulness of his own.

"You mean it'll be just the two of us, like a real midgardian date?"

Tony's smile grew delighted and he moved even closer to Loki's still frame, pushing himself up on his tiptoes to whisper enticingly into a slowly reddening ear:

"You've been consistently calling me Anthony for a couple of days now, gorgeous. I know it's not exactly the great T-word itself, but since you consider it a reasonable enough substitute, I'll go ahead and call the terms of that promise I made you officially fulfilled. I owe you a kiss that will blow your socks off, snowflake. And I'm dying to plant it on your lips."

Loki laughed, turning his head ever so slightly downwards to catch the brush of his mortal's mouth against the shell of his ear.

"I'll have to wear socks then, wouldn't want to miss the moment when they fall off my feet for all the gold in Asgard."

Callused fingertips settled on the underside of his jaw, turning his head around just enough to bring his gaze into full on collision with the engineer's amused one, thus making it impossible for him to miss the underlying seriousness that hid like the purest of white pearls in the teasing cocoon of words Anthony purred:

"You do that, snowflake. I wouldn't want you to miss the moment, either."

**TBC**


	17. Blasting Formality Away

**Title: Blasting Formality Away.**

**Author:** Teofse

**Fandom:** MCU

**Pairing:** Loki/Tony

**Characters:** Loki, Tony Stark

**Rating**: G.

**Word count:** 720

**Disclaimer:** These characters belong to Marvel (both comics and movies). No money is being made out of this work.

**A/N:** Unbetaed. Post Avengers AU, disregards Iron Man 3 and Thor: TDW. This is the next installment of my **adventdrabbles** 2014 series No Time For Sentiment. **Prompt 17: Sleigh ride.**

**Summary:** "You're way too formal for your own good, gorgeous. But don't worry, I'm about to remedy that tiny flaw."

**Blasting Formality Away.**

Loki had thought himself prepared for their date. He'd seen the soft-music, fireside-couch-kissing scenario play a million times in one film or other, so he was relatively familiar with the midgardian etiquette for the situation.

He'd arrived promptly at seven thirty, just as he'd been asked to do, carrying a bottle of brandy that had been recommended by J.A.R.V.I.S himself and handed it to his host with a small smile while Sleigh Ride played softly in the background. Tony had chuckled under his breath as he examined the gift and, grabbing him unexpectedly by the collar, pulled on him until their bodies collided rather messily half a step inside the doorway.

"Anthony, what...?" His startled request for an explanation was cut short by a playful growl:

"You're way too formal for your own good, gorgeous. But don't worry, I'm about to remedy that tiny flaw."

Loki didn't have time to inquire how, exactly, Tony was planning to 'fix' his formality, because his mortal abandoned the brandy bottle on a side table and rose on his tiptoes almost immediately, proceeding to kiss him with enough fierceness to make him stumble backwards.

His senses reeled as Tony's hands caught him, kneaded the balls of his shoulders soothingly and trailed up to the back of his neck, tilting his head just so before tangling in his hair. Their kiss deepened as those voracious lips literally feasted on his own while he groaned in shocked surrender, unable to do anything but feel the heat of Tony's tongue, the scratch of that short beard against the skin of his jaw, the power inherent in the short but compact frame that was plastered all over his own, scorching every nerve-ending he possessed all the way from mouth to knees.

Lack of air forced them apart and, staring at Tony's passion-darkened eyes and the determined set to those kiss-swollen lips that looked so enticingly moist and plump and... perfect, Loki knew they wouldn't remain separate for long.

A single heartbeat was the only reprieve he had before Tony's impatient hands grabbed him anew, dragging his head downwards for another round of heart-stopping, pulse-altering, mind-bendingly desperate kissing, and that's when he finally realized that he'd never seen a scenario like this play out on film before. He'd never studied midgardian passion in any shape or form. He'd never imagined a single mortal could make him forget his own name with just two kisses.

"Anthony..." He gasped roughly when those branding lips released him and was cut off mid-word by a small, amused chuckle.

"Woa! I can't believe you're still talking after that awesome smooch. I must be losing my touch."

Loki laughed breathlessly, lifting slightly trembling hands to frame the flushed face of the irreverent creature who could so easily disarm him with a flirty smile and a charming quip.

"Your touch is in fine form, I assure you. My poor socks have been blown off already and we haven't even made it past the doorway."

Tony sighed contentedly, tilting his head just enough to rest it fully on the palms that cradled it in an unconscious show of trust that made Loki weak at the knees.

"I think we totally rock at this date thing, babe. Everything is falling on the right side of amazing already. I've got the fire crackling and J.A.R.V.I.S has a list of every Christmas Carol in existence, waiting to be played for your entertainment. All we have to do is get that hot cocoa I promised you and hug like boa constrictors on the couch."

"Please, tell me there will be more kissing." Loki pleaded fervently and his embarrassment over having dared to ask such a thing flew out of the window when Tony raked his body up and down with a look that literally sizzled, and purred with equal fervor:

"Of course there will be more kissing. We've barely even started, snowflake. I haven't kissed your jawline or your long neck, your lovely ears or the palms of your hands. I haven't pecked you on the forehead or inhaled the aroma of your hair. I haven't nosed the hollow of your throat or kissed your knuckles, your thin wrists, your delicate-looking eyelids... I haven't done any of those things but I'm planning to. Tonight I'm gonna kiss you silly, Reindeer."

**TBC**


	18. A fraught Conversation

**Title: A Fraught Conversation.**

**Author:** Teofse

**Fandom:** MCU

**Pairing:** Loki/Tony

**Characters:** Loki, Tony Stark

**Rating:** G.

**Word count:** 845

**Disclaimer:** These characters belong to Marvel (both comics and movies). No money is being made out of this work.

**A/N:** Unbetaed. Post Avengers AU, disregards Iron Man 3 and Thor: TDW. This is the next installment of my **adventdrabbles** 2014 series No Time For Sentiment. **Prompt 18: Christmas crackers.**

**Summary:** Loki stiffened from head to toes, already annoyed at the prospect of having this conversation with the golden heir of Asgard.

**A Fraught Conversation.**

Loki left Tony to his fight against Romanov over the possession of his 'precious Christmas crackers' and stepped out to the terrace, glad to exchange the overheated atmosphere of the penthouse floor for the soothing sting of the icy breeze that was blowing across New York.

He hadn't been outside more than ten minutes when the glass door behind him slid open and he heard his br—_Thor's_ distinctive, heavy footfalls approaching with what sounded like dishearteningly determined purpose.

Silence reigned for a moment longer as he neither turned around nor greeted the oaf, and Thor seemed oddly inclined to grant him the small reprieve. Contenting himself with studying his profile with the kind of uncharacteristic focus that Loki found utterly unnerving.

"You look happier than I've ever seen you, brother. Friend Stark seems to have triumphed where the rest of us have failed."

Loki stiffened from head to toes, already annoyed at the prospect of having this conversation with the golden heir of Asgard.

"If your father sent you here to demand I abandon my mortal, let me tell you right now that I won't follow that order. I. Am. Not. His. Son, Thor. He no longer has the right to poke his nose in my private affairs."

Thor took a distressed step forwards, muscled arm breaching the small distance between them to clasp the back of his neck in the painfully familiar gesture he'd used since childhood to soothe his ruffled feathers.

"Peace, lil'lo, peace. I have no desire to fight with you, brother."

"You never do, yet you manage it every time." Loki spat resentfully, pulling himself free of his not-brother's gentle hold and taking a pointed step backwards.

Limpid blue eyes stared at him sorrowfully, following his clearly unwanted retreat but doing nothing to breach the increased distance between them.

"Heimdall has informed father of your... friendship... with the Man of Iron. Mother is delighted and not a single one of us begrudges you the right to be happy. We are your family, Loki. How could we be anything but heartened at your good fortune?"

"_Mother_ is delighted. I see..."

"Do not attribute to me words I've never spoken, brother. Father is happy enough about this, just as I am."

Loki laughed mockingly under his breath, trying desperately to hide the increasing misery the fraught conversation was raising within him.

"Happy enough isn't the same as 'delighted'. Seems like mother remains the only member of your family who will always care about me genuinely enough to treasure my heart's greatest joys."

Thor flinched where he stood, blanching in instinctive reaction to the kind of barb he'd have been happy to ignore in the past.

"Such hurtful words have no place here and now, Loki. Father and I may have failed you for centuries in many ways, but it was done out of blindness. Lack of love was never the issue."

"Yet here you both are, feeling only 'happy enough' instead of 'delighted'."

"Oh, for the love of the Norns. Give us a bloody break, lil'lo!" Thor swore explosively under his breath and breached the distance between them in two forceful steps. Meaty hands settled on the back of Loki's neck once again, pulling him closer with the kind of carefulness that didn't come naturally to the impulsive oaf who proceeded to curl the tips of his fingers ever so slightly inwards in a move designed to force him to look directly into those earnest blue eyes. "This is hard for us, brother. It's painful and stressful and so goddamned humbling that I'm losing sleep over it, and so is father. I. Am. Your. Sibling! I've known you for millennia. How do you think it felt to stand there and listen to Stark challenge the entire team over my suggestion to let you deal with that duck? He's known you for half a decade and he's done more on your behalf than I've managed in ten centuries!"

"Thor..."

"Every time I watch the Man of Iron interact with you I learn more about the million ways in which I've failed you. He's teaching me how to love you, Loki. And the fact that he makes it look so simple when I've always thought it hard is breaking my heart in two."

Loki was so thunderstruck that he didn't know what to say. Reacting in any way was simply impossible, so he stood there and stared at his big brother with tear-bright green eyes while his entire word shifted and re-aligned for the first time since the day of Thor's failed coronation.

"Brother..." He uttered dumbly after a minute or two, and found neither the need nor the strength to speak a single word further when Thor took that as permission to pull him closer and tuck him gently against a heart that was beating as hard as his own, hugging him desperately tight and whispering in his ear:

"I'm here, lil'lo. I'm here. And this time I won't let you go. Never again, brother: Never. Again. I swear it on Mjölnir itself."

**TBC**


	19. Something Special

**Title: Something Special.**

**Author:** Teofse

**Fandom:** MCU

**Pairing:** Loki/Tony

**Characters:** Loki, Tony Stark

**Rating:** G.

**Word count:** 631

**Disclaimer:** These characters belong to Marvel (both comics and movies). No money is being made out of this work.

**A/N:** Unbetaed. Post Avengers AU, disregards Iron Man 3 and Thor: TDW. This is the next installment of my **adventdrabbles** 2014 series No Time For Sentiment. **Prompt 19: Christmas card portrait.**

**Summary:** We look happy enough to burst. I had to take this one shot and make it into something special. Something we can keep and look at with a smile on our faces many years from now."

**Something Special.**

Loki hadn't understood what his mortal meant when he'd told him that he'd used 'a shot' he'd taken from J.A.R.V.I.S' security feed to create a Christmas card portrait of them, 'just to have it, you know?' Now he sat atop the very same couch featured on the front of the card he held and stared at the laughing image of the two of them with something so akin to glowing pride that his gut tightened with the fierceness of the emotion.

"You took this from our first date." He said softly, using his slender forefinger to trace the contours of Anthony's hot cocoa mustache. Their drinks had been topped with a generous amount of whipped cream and they both had ended up sporting ridiculous amounts of it above their top lip. The 'foam' looked strangely out of place in the picture, a white touch of old age marring the giggling carelessness of youth. "No wonder I laughed so much, you looked totally silly."

"Hey! Your mustache was as silly as mine and I wasn't the one who ended with cream on the tip of his nose, was I?"

"I thought you liked my 'cream-touched nose.' You certainly enjoyed kissing it clean well enough, if I remember correctly." Loki said teasingly as he laid the portrait card on the top of his knees and watched Tony's fingertip run over their smiling faces with inexplicable reverence.

"It was fun, wasn't it? We look happy enough to burst. I had to take this one shot and make it into something special. Something we can keep and look at with a smile on our faces many years from now."

Loki blinked and stared with dawning realization at his mortal's reddening cheeks, losing himself in those earnest amber eyes that were trying to tell him something very important without using the right words at all.

"That's the most convoluted way I've ever heard to tell someone you want long-term commitment."

The engineer's lips quirked upwards, relieved amusement swiftly replacing the momentary bout of self-consciousness of a mere second ago.

"And that's the most straightforwards way I've ever seen anyone use to side-step the big L-word. "

Loki fidgeted on the couch but his slowly widening gaze remained riveted to his mortal's grinning features. A million butterflies chose that second to start dancing in the pit of his stomach and his heart began to pound wildly as he forced his dry lips apart and whispered uncertainly:

"You avoided it first. I didn't want to... presume."

Tony shifted forwards on the cushions, right hand raising to cradle Loki's cheek with a tenderness that shook him before the gentlest of all kisses was placed on his brow like a soul-born benediction.

"I don't want to spook you, snowflake. Tell me now, if you think I'm going too fast, and I'll save what I'm trying to say for a better time."

Loki's breath caught in his throat. His agitated pulse thundered in his ears and his eyes widened even further, unconsciously exposing both the beautiful hope and the terrible fear that had begun to wage the fiercest of battles in the back of his mind.

"I don't spook easily." He whispered hoarsely and all but melted under the onslaught of the sweet kiss he received for his efforts.

"I love you, snowflake. I'd like to add another crazy Christmas card portrait to our lovely stack of one this time next year. And the one afterwards. And the one after that, if possible."

It took Loki at least three tries to swallow past the lump lodged in the middle of his throat, but he smiled when he managed it and his eyes shone bright and delighted when he murmured his answer:

"Of course it's possible, Anthony. I love you, too, silly mortal."

**TBC**


	20. Embracing Sentiment

**Title: Embracing Sentiment.**

**Author:** Teofse

**Fandom:** MCU

**Pairing:** Loki/Tony

**Characters:** Loki, Tony Stark

**Rating:** R.

**Word count:** 811

**Disclaimer:** These characters belong to Marvel (both comics and movies). No money is being made out of this work.

**A/N**: Unbetaed. Post Avengers AU, disregards Iron Man 3 and Thor: TDW. This is the next installment of my **adventdrabbles** 2014 series No Time For Sentiment. **Prompt 20: Christmas candles.**

**Summary:** "You're thinking too much, snowflake. This is something no one can teach you, you have to go with your heart."

**Embracing Sentiment.**

Loki liked sex as much as the next god but, due to his lack of charms according to asgardian opinion, he'd grown used to fucking whoever offered to have him without allowing the poor bastard the necessary time to change his mind before the deed was done.

When Tony grabbed his hand and dragged him leisurely down the corridor, stopping every few steps to pepper small, toe-curling kisses along his jaw and neck he allowed himself to be dragged, enjoying the moment without bothering to question where it was going.

Then his mortal pushed open a door and the first thing that hit him was the sound: soft carol music was playing on the speaker system, turned down low enough to make the words pleasantly indistinct while preserving the smile-inducing jingly tune he so loved. The lighting was low, too, coming from the Christmas candles that were scattered everywhere. There was a champagne bottle nestled on an ice bucket that stood near a bedside table and the bed itself was turned down invitingly.

Loki froze, staring around the room and realizing that this wouldn't be the quick and passionate roll in the sheets he was so used to. This romantic set up left him floundering in uncharted waters because he'd never stayed the entire night with anyone. He'd never bothered with post-cuddles, or post-conversation, or post-anything. He was a fucker not a lover, and he didn't have the first clue about what making love actually looked like.

Tony laughed at his shocked expression and cradled his face with rough, callused hands, directing it slightly downwards so that their eyes could tangle together: wary green meeting thoroughly amused amber.

"I've never seen you resemble a startled reindeer until now. Not even when you were sporting that horned helmet of yours. I know what you're thinking, gorgeous. You're telling yourself that this looks too close to 'sentiment' for your comfort, aren't you?"

Loki's anxious gaze swept over the room, trying to study it as much as possible without removing his face from Tony's gentle hold. He could feel the tide of panic raising within him with every new detail he uncovered, but had no desire to succumb to his instinctive fear. He would fight tooth and nail to be worthy of this instant. This one moment in time when someone had finally found him good enough to keep beyond the pleasure of orgasm. Good enough to merit the time spent in lighting all these candles and bringing in the champagne; remembering the songs he liked and turning down their bedspread with the hope of tempting him to stay.

"I want to do sentiment for you, but I don't know how, Anthony."

The engineer's amused smile became warm and reassuring, a gift of unlimited patience.

"You're thinking too much, snowflake. This is something no one can teach you, you have to go with your heart."

Loki swallowed past the thick lump that was lodged in the middle of his throat and allowed his barriers to fall as one, his eyes roamed Tony's features as he turned his head slightly to place a single, fervent kiss on the palm of the hand that still held him. Tony gasped and moved his other hand to pet his hair encouragingly, coming close enough to plaster their bodies together.

Lips found lips and their first kiss swept across their senses, blurring the edges of the room and locking them inside a small bubble where nothing else existed. Loki attempted to retain his cool head, but his mortal wouldn't settle for anything other than complete, focused attention.

Impatient hands ripped his shirt open, giving a fervent mouth access to his collarbone and shoulders, his chest and nipples, his lightly ticklish belly. All of it was kissed with toe-curling devotion, with a greed that disarmed him, with unashamed avarice; and he could do nothing but surrender his entire self to the feel of those hands and that mouth. To the taste and smell of the man trying so hard to devour him. To the warmth of the skin being oh-so-slowly unveiled for his pleasure.

They fell on each other like wolves, all teeth and claws, instinct and hunger. And it wasn't until he was fighting for control, deep inside his mortal, that Loki finally managed to remember his own name. His passion-glazed green eyes connected with Tony's, finding within them a wealth of acceptance, affection and understanding that no one else had ever offered him.

"Loki..." His name was hissed so possessively that the sound tore across his soul, laying claim to every inch left of it, branding it indelibly.

"Anthony..." He groaned in return, shattering like stardust inside his mortal, and his heart felt light and safe and finally, finally, complete when his body collapsed atop Tony's and he found himself willingly embraced. Held and treasured, both. Welcomed, desired and... loved.

**TBC.**


	21. Welcoming Jól

**Title: Welcoming Jól.**

**Author:** Teofse

**Fandom:** MCU

**Pairing:** Loki/Tony

**Characters:** Loki, Tony Stark

**Rating:** G.

**Word count:** 657

**Disclaimer:** These characters belong to Marvel (both comics and movies). No money is being made out of this work.

**A/N:** Unbetaed. Post Avengers AU, disregards Iron Man 3 and Thor: TDW. This is the next installment of my **adventdrabbles** 2014 series No Time For Sentiment. **Prompt 21: Winter Solstice.**

**Summary:** 'Jól is here.' He thought, pleasantly surprised at his own lack of bitterness and decided there and then to celebrate the winter solstice in the way they would back home.

**Welcoming Jól.**

Loki welcomed the shortest day of the year curled around his mortal in a tangle of bare limbs. He was wide awake and basking in the strange and new sensation of guarding a lover's rest. Tony's head rested atop his extended right arm, wild mop of tangled bed-hair brushing the underside of his jaw every time his mortal breathed.

A tanned back was glued to his front, the ass he'd so thoroughly plundered the night before nestled against his crotch, keeping him warm and semi-aroused while their legs knotted them together, thigh stretched over thigh, keeping he-who-was-now-his firmly anchored to his side.

Loki's green eyes glowed with a quiet and content satisfaction. Pleased with his lot for once, wanting nothing else at all beyond the treasure his arms already held and therefore feeling no envy whatsoever as the sun rose across the sky on the one day a year when Thor's glory shone the most in Asgard.

'Jól is here.' He thought, pleasantly surprised at his own lack of bitterness and decided there and then to celebrate the winter solstice in the way they would back home.

He'd honor his brother with the kind of wholeheartedness he hadn't been able to muster in a very long time, allow himself the joy of remembering how it felt to feel brotherly pride. How it felt to embrace the knowledge that his sibling was meant to be a great protector, destined to be revered and beloved by the masses.

He wanted to savor once again the absolute certainty that, even though his big brother could lay claim to such wide-spread adulation, Thor would always value his Jól offering above all others, no matter how lackluster it may have been or how gracelessly delivered, because it had been made by Loki's own hands and that never stopped meaning something to his brother.

His impulsive decision left him feeling oddly melancholic, saddened for the years he had wasted warring the first-born of Asgard. He should have accepted his fate to lead a throne-less existence long before his conviction that he was better suited for the position had the time to develop. He'd lost his youth and his innocence pursuing a goal that was never within reach. Thor was the rightful heir of Asgard. The first-born. The Realms' acknowledged protector. There had never been any chance of him ever outshining his brother and his decision to try anyway had only served the purpose of poisoning his heart with envy, and alienating him from his family.

"Hmmmm... What's going on in that crafty mind of yours, snowflake? You're thinking loudly enough to cause earthquakes."

Loki laughed, thoroughly amused, and focused happy green eyes on the object of his affections.

"I feel strangely inclined to continue embracing sentiment this morn, Anthony, and it's all because of you."

Sleepy amber eyes lit with unholy desire and his lover shifted in his arms, curled a warm hand around the back of his neck and pulled his head down; taking his breath away with a kiss that was both plea and invitation.

"I like the sound of that, hot stuff. I like the sound of that a lot."

"You are insatiable." Loki whispered, tone rough with renewed desire, and decided to postpone his plan of heading back to his room and craft a goat mask for his brother until after he'd welcomed Jól in the arms of his beloved.

Giving gifts and burning logs while drinking ale in Thor's honor would come later. He'd had time to be a good brother after he devoted himself to being a good partner. He may even be able to coax the rest of the team into following his example, once he explained the meaning behind the ancient asgardian traditions to them. He could have it all in this day of new beginnings and maybe, if he played his cards well, he could still have it all on the morrow. And beyond.

**TBC**


	22. Accepting Defeat

**Title: Accepting Defeat.**

**Author:** Teofse

**Fandom:** MCU

**Pairing:** Loki/Tony

**Characters:** Loki, Tony Stark

**Rating:** G.

**Word count:** 967

**Disclaimer:** These characters belong to Marvel (both comics and movies). No money is being made out of this work.

**A/N1:** Unbetaed. Post Avengers AU, disregards Iron Man 3 and Thor: TDW. This is the last installment of my **adventdrabbles** 2014 series No Time For Sentiment. **Prompt 22: Snow Globe.**

**A/N2: This story is now officially complete.**

**Summary:** Loki has known for ages now that Midgard suits him like Asgard never did. Like Jotunheim will never be allowed to. Like no other place out there could possibly suit him anymore, because he's found home here.

**Accepting Defeat.**

Magic was a great and wondrous thing but, despite everything it had allowed him to do in his long life and the million and one ways in which it had saved not only his own skin but that of his companions, Loki had recently come to accept that power alone couldn't make him happy.

He used to find joy in his mother's counsel, in his books and trinkets, in the soothing prettiness that nature so easily displays when left to its own devices. He'd found comfort in silence, self-control and the exquisite art of thought. His pre-Midgard existence used to be one of quietude, ever-growing isolation and a bitterness that had slowly turned him into a mass-murdering monster.

It's only in recent years that Loki has finally learned what true happiness looks like. He'd found it in his mortal's smiles and mischievous quips. In the thoroughly passionate looks that are so hot, so arousing, that they set his body on fire. He's found it in the gleeful anticipation with which he holds hands with Tony during most Avengers' meetings, just to watch Fury's spluttering indignation and bask in the glorious sense of achievement he feels every time he catches the rest of the team's silent laughter.

His life in Midgard has changed completely in the last couple of years and it has changed him in turn, mellowing his former arrogance and making him more patient. Less prone to bouts of grief and discontent. Less willing to indulge in self-pity.

He's learned to accept and enjoy the respect of his colleagues. Treasure both the pride he hears in his brother's voice whenever they cross paths and the knowledge that he's known here as Loki: one of the Avengers. The one with the magic, the cool spear and the hottest boyfriend.

He enjoys mundane things like coffee and peaches, too. Still goes ga-ga over Christmas carols, snow-globes, surfing with Tony off the coast of Malibu and quiet afternoons spent plotting new ways to turn poor Banner green, just because his mortal enjoys it.

Loki has known for ages now that Midgard suits him like Asgard never did. Like Jotunheim will never be allowed to. Like no other place out there could possibly suit him anymore, because he's found _home_ here. He has the Avengers and Thor. He has Anthony.

His smile grew as the ping of the elevator broke the quiet, announcing his arrival at his destination. He should have been here an hour ago but had been called away to analyze an unknown magical artifact, and had been too fascinated by it to heed Anthony's increasingly impatient texts.

The doors opened to loud music, strobe lights and a mass of dancing bodies, and he shook his head with glee, realizing he'd just won fifty bucks from Barton because Anthony had done it again: he must have grown bored with Pepper's stuffy list of V.I.P.s and twitted a general invitation to join the company's 'private' New Year party, open to whoever could make it to the tower in time, just like he'd done last year.

"Barton should have known Anthony would do it again just to watch Pepper squirm."

Natasha saw him first and pointed a long, red-painted nail in the general direction of the balcony, waving him a flirty kiss that he swiftly returned. He'd endured Thor's bear hug and the captain's shoulder tap along the way, but missed the other two members of the team altogether.

He'd just spotted Tony through the balcony's glass door when the entire room went silent and a loud TEN! boomed over the speaker system. Tony pulled out his cell and tapped furiously on the screen, making the phone inside Loki's coat pocket vibrate in the next second.

NINE! his mortal whirled around, right hand going to his hair, probably to pull it out in frustration, but the gesture froze on EIGHT! as familiar amber eyes zeroed in on him with the accuracy that never failed to make him weak at the knees.

SEVEN! Tony started moving forwards determinedly, clearly intent on reaching him before the New Year began, and at the count of SIX! Loki remembered his lover's explanation about how if you end the countdown with a kiss that's what you will do for the majority of the next twelve months. They'd done it last year and the one before that to wonderful results, so he focused on his beloved and Teleported to him just in time to hear the loud boom of FIVE!

"What took you so long? I thought you weren't going to make it. I'd have been right pissed it you'd cost us our entire quota of kisses for next year." Tony growled and Loki laughed at FOUR!, feeling delightfully lighthearted.

"But I made it, Anthony. I. Made. It."

Tony looked at him then, catching something in his gaze that made his own soften on THREE! and whispered quietly, but with feeling:

"Yes. You've made it, snowflake. And I've made it too. We both made it together."

Loki's arms curled around his mortal's waist on TWO! and he lowered his lips to plant a scorching kiss on Tony's welcoming mouth in the nick of time. Their tongues tangled together and the entire world disappeared from their consciousness as they explored each other's mouths with passionate eagerness. Tony groaned, nipping his bottom lip playfully and Loki was about to retaliate when the first firework exploded.

They sprung apart, startled, and realized they had missed that all-important ONE! altogether. Laughter bubbled up their throats as their hands entwined and Loki understood at that point that, no matter what the New Year threw at them, they would sail trough it, regardless. They had each other. They were in love. And that..._ that_ was all that mattered. Sentiment had won the battle.

**The End.**


End file.
